


Four O'Clocks

by AgustDTF



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grand Theft Auto Setting, FakeHaus, Fluff, Insecurity, Insomnia, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 01:30:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6779782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgustDTF/pseuds/AgustDTF
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before Lawrence joined the crew, Adam spent many sleepless nights by himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four O'Clocks

Adam was never treated for his disordered sleep; his family chose to attribute his failing grades and lethargy to laziness and teen apathy. He developed poor coping skills, turning to alcohol and occasionally over the counter drugs to knock him out whenever his brain reached a level of fried that he deemed too much.

Before Lawrence joined the crew, Adam spent many sleepless nights by himself. The silence of the dark suburbs he lived in as a teenager was smothering, as an adult he’s glad to live in the city, where the sounds of cars and late night revelry keep him company.

Lawrence grew up with everyone around him forcing him into going to bed when he wasn’t tired, spent his teenage years secretly honing his technical skills at night and sleeping through any portion of school that didn’t require his immediate attention. Visits to doctors, therapists, and other specialists were frequent, not that he understood why. Although his social life was lacking, he got decent enough grades and was perfectly healthy, he rejected the idea that something was wrong with him. Later in life when he learned about what was called “Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder” he scoffed at the tendency for the majority to pathologize anything that doesn’t fit into societal norms.

After formally joining the crew and moving into the house that the crew used as a base of operations Lawrence quickly realized everyone was pretty unfazed by him sleeping away the day, if only because James spent many of his nights getting into trouble then coming home around 7 in the morning and promptly passing the fuck out for the next 8  hours.

Adam generally kept to his room on nights when he couldn’t sleep, he felt that giving his body a rest helped even if he wasn’t sleeping, but some nights he got too restless and would wander. The first time he left his room after Lawrence moved in he nearly jumped out of his skin when he rounded the corner from the stairway and saw Lawrence sitting at the breakfast bar with his laptop in front of him.

Lawrence has headphones on and is focused on the screen in front of him, doesn’t notice Adam padding acrossed the living room to the dark kitchen. The light of the laptop is reflected on his glasses like he’s a hacker in a movie— months from now Adam will find out this was intentional and he’ll laugh, in hindsight he could never have imagined someone as serious, focused, and ruthless as Lawrence would turn out to be such a dork.

Rather than interrupt what the other man is doing Adam opens the cabinet next to the fridge, grabbing himself a glass and moving to the sink to fill it with water.

“Hey.”

Lawrence’s voice is rough like he hasn’t used it in hours and he probably hasn’t. Adam turns around to face him and takes a sip from his glass. Lawrence’s headphones are pulled down around his neck now; he’s in the middle of reaching up to grab his glasses and rub at his eyes when he speaks again.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

Adam takes another drink and scratches at the back of his neck with his free hand, opens his mouth to say something but shuts it quickly. Lawrence shakes his head and puts his glasses back on.

“You don’t don’t have to tell me anything. It’s far beyond the boundaries of our relationship for me to ask you to divulge information about your sleeping habits anyways.” He states very matter-of-factly, before resuming his typing.

It takes Adam’s sleep-deprived mind a moment to process what Lawrence just said but when he does it makes him smile, even just a little. He suddenly feels out of place and leaves Lawrence to his work, doing his best to carefully navigate his way through the darkness now that his eyes have be exposed to light and are no longer adjusted. Regret settles in Adam’s gut as he climbs the stairs. He stops in the dark hallway to consider going back to the kitchen, or at least the sitting area, so that he can just be near another human being.

_You already left it would be weird to go back now. You barely know him. Don’t be clingy._

Adam sighs and scrubs his knuckles against his beard when he has shut the door to his room behind him. He crawls back under the dark sheets and and lets his loneliness swallow him back up.

* * *

 

Adam starts intentionally leaving his room in the dead of night to check if Lawrence is down there in the dark clicking away at his computer. Sometimes he is and they make small talk, other times Lawrence is nowhere to be found; Adam knows now, after having checked the garage on a whim, that Lawrence will take his car and leave. He disappears for hours only to return just before sunrise and goes to bed just as the sun makes it’s way fully over the horizon.

Lawrence hasn’t been with the crew for very long and Adam still isn’t sure what to make of him. He’s smart, intense, and very deliberate in everything that he does. Adam knows he admires Lawrence, is attracted to him maybe. Still, he tries not to get too close because he’s the leader of this crew and he needs to maintain some level of professionalism.

Which is hard when he’s deliberately tip-toeing out of his room for the tenth or maybe hundredth time since that first night and this time Lawrence looks up at him from where he’s sat on the couch. Suddenly Adam is frozen at the bottom of the steps because this isn’t usually how it goes and he’s thrown off. Lawrence raises an eyebrow and turns back to his laptop, giving Adam the opportunity to relax.

“Come and sit,” Lawrence says. Adam doesn’t reply, he doesn’t even make to move.

“Or I suppose you can just stand there and give me the deer in the headlights look all night, if that’s what you’re into.”

Adam releases his breath audibly and walks over to the sectional. He stubs his toe on the coffee table, bites his lip to hold in any embarrassing pained noises he might have made, before sitting on the couch to Lawrence’s left. He’s mortified, even more so because Lawrence hasn’t acknowledged him since he first spoke. Adam opens his eyes, which he didn’t know he’d scrunched closed, and turns his head toward Lawrence who’s still completely focused on whatever’s on the screen in front of him. His face is illuminated by the bluish glow and his glasses are nowhere to be found. Adam has never seen Lawrence without his glasses, that revelation makes his jaw drop open a little. Somehow the lack of glasses makes Lawrence look even more intense, even more masculine and dangerous, as if the frames resting on his face soften his features and his gaze. He must make a noise or move or _something_ because Lawrence is looking at him now with his eyebrow raised again. Adam closes his mouth, his teeth clicking together, and looks down at his knee where his hand is clenched in his sweatpants.

The side of Lawrence’s mouth twitches up in a half-smile before he carefully sets his face back to passively regarding the other man. Lawrence finds Adam very very strange. A man who many fear and hate because he’s the brain behind all of the carefully crafted destruction and disruption caused by the crew known as Funhaus, tall and broad, known for being impatient and efficient, yet he’s nothing like Lawrence expected him to be. Didn’t expect him to be amusedly tolerant of the bullshit shenanigans his crewmates get up to; didn’t expect his disposition to be so thoroughly caring and gentle; didn’t expect him to have wide, kind eyes; didn’t expect to find this man so… adorable.

Adam jiggles his leg up and down nervously and goes through various facial expressions before speaking unexpectedly.

“I have insomnia.” His voice cracks on the last syllable and his shoulders tense visibly. Lawrence blinks and considers how to respond.

“That… That sucks,” he rolls his eyes at himself and thinks _nailed it, very eloquent._   “I guess that explains a lot.”

“Yeah.” Adam breathes out, still staring at his own hand resting on his bouncing knee.

“You’ve always been like this?” Lawrence asks.

“Yeah.” _Fuck_.

Lawrence furrows his brow and rolls his head the side to pop his neck. He reaches up to rub a tender spot and shifts his eyes back to Adam. Adam, who looks slightly more relaxed if a bit exasperated.

“I’m nocturnal.” Lawrence says. Adam’s head and eyes snap up and turn toward Lawrence and his leg ceases bouncing.

“You... That doesn’t make any sense. You’re…” He pauses, rubs his hands against his face and his closed eyes, “What?” Adam’s hands drop back to his lap, he looks back at Lawrence, who sighs heavily and puts the hand that was rubbing his neck back on the keyboard. He doesn’t start typing though, just continues casually regarding Adam.

“Most people are stimulated by sunlight and it prompts their body to regulate their melatonin release to begin in the evening and end around sunrise. The exact times vary between individuals, age groups, and can be affected by some artificial lights, but it’s still awake during the day and asleep at night. That’s why jet lag happens. It’s called being diurnal,” Lawrence shrugs with one shoulder, “I’m the opposite.”

Adam opens and closes his mouth a few times, he doesn’t say anything for a full minute.

“Alright.” Adam’s face scrunches up and Lawrence wants to laugh, but he swallows it down only failing to keep the grin off his face.

“That’s really weird.” Adam says.

“Well, you actually can’t sleep. So, not really.”

Adam’s nose scrunches up even more, if that’s possible, and his brows knit together.

“That’s fair.” Adam replies, his tone amused and slightly defeated.

Lawrence does laugh this time, brings his hands up to his face to cover his mouth with his fist as his shoulders shake and he holds in any noise he might have made. Adam’s in awe for a moment at seeing Lawrence’s cold veneer crack and completely fall apart in front of him after so many months. He smiles and he breaks down into laughter as well. They both settle after a while but their smiles remain,  it feels surreal.

* * *

 

They start spending their nights together on purpose, even if they’re just silently sitting in the living area with their computers in their laps. Lawrence gets antsy and decides to bring Adam with him when he goes on his previously mysterious trips out of the house. Adam finds out he mostly just drives around, likes to look at the lights and see all of the people on the streets after parties have ended and clubs have closed. Lawrence takes Adam to hole-in-the-wall food joints that open up around this time to make a profit off of all the very drunk, very hungry people that saturate the city in the late hours.

They always end up back at the house before sunrise. Adam struggles to keep his eyes open every time as they walk through the front door, and he knows he most likely won’t get any real sleep but he feels better for having spent time with someone. Someone who doesn’t blame him, who doesn’t make a big deal out of his sleep habits; instead he gets quiet acceptance and time that used to be something of a dark all-encompassing void filled with companionship and conversation.

Some nights Adam doesn’t feel like going anywhere and Lawrence doesn’t have any problem with that. He likes staying in just as much, if not more than going out. This is one of those nights, they’re both sprawled out on the sectional. Lawrence is sitting against where the chaise connects with one of his legs bent in front of him, his foot braced against the grey fabric, his tablet propped up against his thigh, and the opposite arm slung up onto the backrest behind Adam. Adam is sat to his left, much closer than that first night. The lights are off and they’ve both only been half paying attention to the B-movie horror flick they’ve had playing quietly on the television for the past forty-five minutes.

It’s pushing four in the morning and Adam can feel himself start to doze and his head falls onto Lawrence's shoulder. Adam nods off almost instantly, his body forcing him into sleep after too long without any proper rest. Lawrence tenses and looks around the dark room as if there might be someone else seeing this who could tell him how to deal with this situation.

Lawrence looks down at the sleeping man and silently takes a deep breath. He rubs his hand against Adam’s back and returns to the game he’d been playing on his tablet before. He settles in knowing he’s definitely not going anywhere anytime soon; he wouldn’t risk waking Adam for anything.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are appreciated!
> 
> Full Disclosure: This piece is for public consumption; feel free to share it with credit to the author.


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